Dark Night, Hold Tight
By: Saskia Mitchell
Rating: t.
Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me, but to the v. creative people over at Fox, Wonderland, the Schwartz, and various other entities that do not belong to me, consult me or pay me in any way. The title courtesy of the brilliant group that is Eisley.
A/N: for Dawn, because she wanted it.
Summer woke up to a black night, a starless sky.
The beeping of her watch told her that it was a quarter past five. She yawned and stretched out on her stomach, arching her back, like a cat. She could hear Anna's very purposeful banging from the kitchen of their third-floor loft apartment. Anna always made a lot of healthy noise when she wanted Summer to wake up; she was much too coy to just waltz right in, the way that Summer was wont to do. Summer didn't mind that much, after two years of living with Anna, she'd gotten used to the other girl's habits and quirks. And she couldn't exactly complain, Anna was the best friend she had ever, and would ever have.
Summer continued to stretch the kinks out of her buttery muscles, warm and limp from an hour of disuse. She loved her naps, her sabbaticals, as she liked to refer to them; she tried to convince Anna that they were necessary to keep her in top form. Anna just snorted and rolled her eyes. Summer had plenty of other indulgences as well: yoga, "meditations" in bubble baths, hours alone spent reading…
"Anna?" Summer called experimentally.
Anna's innocent voice came closer as she moved down the hall. "Oh, are you awake?" Summer could almost hear the mischievous smile.
It was Summer's turn to roll her eyes, but she couldn't hide her answering grin. "Yeah." She yawned again, exaggerated.
"Do you want something to eat before we head out? I'm making a sandwich."
"Ooh, will you make me one too? Avocado and mushroom?" Summer pleaded prettily. She stuck her lip out in mockery of a dramatic pout.
"Oh, alright. But hurry up and get dressed," Anna prodded, leaving the doorway. Summer smiled hugely; she loved being pampered. She rolled off the bed lazily and moved to her closet, rummaging around in the back until she emerged with her white seersucker sundress, triumphant. She slipped it on, loving that the bodice still hugged the curves of her breasts snugly. She'd lost a bit of weight after the accident, and though she'd tried like hell to gain most of it back, she wasn't sure she would ever be a C-cup again.
"You want sprouts?" Anna hollered from the kitchen, her mouth full.
"Yes, please!" Summer called back, slipping into a pair of strappy sandals and bending over at the waist to carefully buckle them onto her feet. These days she shied away from high heels, she didn't feel the need to add the extra inches to her height. Lately she was perfectly comfortable fading in to the wallpaper.
She could smell autumn coming, there were hints of it on the air, she felt it on every lazy breeze that wafted through the crack she left in the bedroom window. She smoothed her short dress across her thighs, she wasn't quite ready to give up the last vestiges of summer.
Summer shut the closet door, grabbed her purse off of the back of the chair that matched the vanity, and then adjusted her sleep-tousled ponytail. Satisfied that she was fit to be seen in public, Summer headed for the door. She'd almost reached it when she tripped over what felt like a barbell and stubbed her toe.
Angry tears sprang to her eyes and her foot smarted painfully. She cried out piteously and then frowned. Summer had always been the most efficient housekeeper; a place for everything and everything in it's place. She'd tried time and again to teach Anna the virtues of putting something away when she was done using it, but Anna had gone too long having a maid picking up after her constantly to change long-ingrained bad habits. It irritated Summer that Anna was always leaving shit laying around for her to stumble over. Sometimes she wondered if it was all part of a cruel elaborate joke.
She sighed, pushed the offending object out of the way with her foot and flipped the light switch on her way out the door. No matter how much time went by, Summer didn't know if she would ever get used to being blind.
To be continued...